Brake Controller Showing Short in the System
On the way home Sunday from our last outing our brake controller reads a short in the system. We made it home safely, but the brakes were in & out the whole way home. I used my test light to check ...
Forum Discussion
just me wrote:
... install a resettable breaker, get rid of the FUSE in the brake system...
Do NOT EVER put a fuse or breaker between the controller and the brakes! If the fuse or the breaker opens under load, then YOU HAVE NO BRAKES! How do I know this and why am I shouting? It happened to me! The bonehead who wired my system up (a couple trucks ago) put in a thermal breaker between the controller and the brakes, and he put it under the hood. So it's a hot day, I'm in the mountains on a curvy road, and suddenly I have no trailer brakes...! Talk about having your hair stand on end! Once I finally got pulled over and my heart rate returned to normal, I found and fixed the problem.
The brake controller itself is fed from a fused line, and your controller is made to handle a dead short with no problem. Most of the really cool, modern ones (like yours) can indicate a fault. The thing is, most of these faults are intermittent, and your controller will continue to send regulated current down the line in spite of the fault.
But please, for your safety, don't put a fuse, fusible link, or breaker between the controller and the brakes.
